GRASSINGTON residents and tourists have been treated to another transformation of the popular visitor attraction into a set of All Creatures Great and Small.

And several people will have done a double take when they saw a Christmas tree being erected for a festive edition while visitors and residents sweltered in a June heatwave.

Linda Furniss, owner of The Stripey Badger bookshop, coffee shop and kitchen, posted a photograph of herself with actor Samuel West, who plays the character of vet Seigfried Farnon, after he popped into her shop.

She said: "The cast and crew for the filming of the 4th series of All Creatures Great and Small descended on Grassington for the second time this year - transforming Grassington into Darrowby.  

"The film crew this time included those producing The Yorkshire Vet and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), the filming company responsible for getting the series on air in America where it is massively popular.  It was chaotic at times, but Grassington as usual looked wonderful transformed into wartime Christmas in the 1940s."

Linda said The Stripey Badger Bookshop, for the duration of filming, becomes GF Endleby, Grocers, while the coffee shop and kitchen is transformed into a private house, behind whose doors PBS filmed interviews with the main cast of the show last week.

Linda added she was impressed with the attention to detail the film company adopted.

She said: "The vegetables in GF Endleby were 'minimalistic' this time as food was rationed. The outside of buildings were somehow dirtier - the dark blue paint of GF Endleby was 'roughed up' compared to the paint of pre-war times.  Very realistic, I suppose."

The series has been a huge hit in America with several American tourists being seen in Grassington recently. Some have been interviewed for the documentary which was recording the setting up of the Christmas scene for the 4th series.

The original All Creatures Great and Small aired was produced by the BBC over seven series, totalling 90 episodes, from 1978 to 1990, and was based on the books of vet Alf Wright, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot.

The series was hugely popular and starred Christopher Timothy as James Herriot, and Robert Hardy, as Siegfried Farnon, proprietor of Skeldale House surgery. Peter Davison played Siegfried's younger brother, Tristan.

The revamped series, which aired in 2020, is produced for Channel 5 and PBS America.

It stars Nicholas Ralph, as James Herriott, Samual West, as Siegfried Farnon and Callum Woodhouse, as Tristan Farnon.

Series four is expected to air this autumn.